Appalachian Trail, Days 35-37
Day 35
Start: Damascus, VA (471.0), Broken Fiddle Hostel
Stop: Saunders Shelter (480.5)
Miles: 9.1
Elevation Gain: 2443 feet
Total Miles Hiked: 509.65
I stayed late at the hostel, drinking coffee, eating gas station breakfast food, and stressing about getting caught up on journaling. I did have to wait until the post office opened so I could go over and collect the box I sent myself. I got my box, then sent some extra items back to Philadelphia. After organizing my resupply, my food bag weighed a ton and my pack could barely close. Walking out of town with a completely full pack is always the worst.
The trail goes straight through Damascus, so all I had to do was walk out of the hostel and I was going for the day. I followed the road for a little while until the trail veered into the woods. I could hear voices in the distance, and after a few minutes, Fireball and Hedgehog caught up with me. We all hiked together for a bit until Mouse and Pack Mule caught up with us, then we had a group of 5. It was a novel feeling to be hiking with such a big group. We stopped to grab some water, where Mouse and I bonded over the superiority of Philadelphia sports.
We got to Saunders Shelter around 5pm. I was originally planning to continue to the next, but it felt good to be with a group, so I just decided to hang. There was a campfire going in the pit when we arrived and I set my tent up behind the shelter next to Mouse and Fireball. In an amazing feat of backcountry culinary expertise, Hedgehog made homemade pizza, dough and all, using nothing but his jet-boil and titanium cook set. He made one for all of us, and it was delicious. More people were arriving, and with tons of open space for tenting, this may have been the largest shelter gathering that I’ve experienced so far. We all sat around the fire eating dinner, and things got very wholesome when we some people passed around their journals for everyone to sign and we took some group photos. As the sun crept down below the horizon, it started to rain and we scampered away to tents or the shelter for sleep.
Day 36
Start: Saunders Shelter (480.5)
Stop: Rhododendron Gap Tenting Site (500.4)
Miles: 20.4
Elevation Gain: 5095 feet
Total Miles Hiked: 530.02
The morning had me following a section of the Virginia Creeper Trail, a riverside bike trail that was badly damaged in the hurricane. The span I was walking was still in good condition and it made for very mellow hiking. Along the way, I crossed an impressive wooden bridge that stretched across the gorge. I leap frogged with Fireball and Brian for most of the morning, and we all found ourselves at the same shelter for a morning snack. We listened to Brian share the news of our impending big climb, and mentally prepared ourselves.
There was indeed a big climb, ascending up to Mount Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. It was a lot of elevation gain, but for the most part it was gradual. I passed more day hikers than usual, all headed back after their day of peak-bagging. I reached buzzard rock, a large outcropping with a great view and stopped to take a break. This must have been where the triumphant howling was coming from that I heard as I was climbing. From there, I crossed a grassy meadow then traversed the mountainside through flowering bushes, flame azaleas ablaze in striking orange.
I came upon Fireball and Shelter Kat stopped up ahead, the reason quickly became clear. Pony sighting! A honey-colored mare and her foal were tromping through someone’s campsite, completely unbothered by the people there. Apparently they had trampled the tent in their grazing a little bit before I arrived. I knew I was approaching pony territory, but I had no idea how many there were or if I would even see any while I was passing through, so I was pretty excited. After taking pictures, I continued hiking with Fireball and Shelter Kat. Soon we came upon a black pony, stubbornly blocking our path. We carefully stepped our way off the trail to try and give him space. We passed the spur trail for Mount Rogers, not up for the side quest so late in the day, especially when the summit is completely ensconced in trees.
It was an absolutely beautiful final few miles to camp, sweeping grassy pastures that would rise up into rolling hills covered in pine trees. Just before camp, we came upon a wooden signpost marking 500 miles. We arrived at the Rhododendron Gap tenting site and found our friends packs strategically placed, marking their spots within the clearing. I took my pack off and walked farther through the clearing that opened up into a vast pasture with grand views. Hedgehog, Mouse, and Pizza Knees were gather around a fire ring eating dinner and admiring the views. There were also other campers scattered around the vast hillside. There were ponies and cattle everywhere, tiny foals and calves intermingling or playing with their brethren. I quickly set up my tent back up the hill so I could join them for the sunset.
I hauled my food bag and mat back out to the view and was blown away by the moon, completely orange sitting low in the sky, and nearly full. The sunset was starting to color the sky a spectrum of pastel shades. Hedgehog tried to lite a fire and Scooby, Fireball, and Shelter Kat came down with their dinner supplies too. As we ate, two curious calves trotted over to us, stopping only a few feet away. I wasn’t really nervous about them, but I didn’t want mom to get angry about our proximity and luckily they wandered away. It was a dazzling sunset and it was so nice to have a fun group to share it with. Scooby played the ukulele as we lounged. Once it was truly night, we stashed our food bags in the bear locked and returned to the clearing at the top of the hill for bed.
Day 37
Start: Rhododendron Gap Tenting Site (500.4)
Stop: Trimpi Shelter (524.6)
Miles: 25.4
Elevation Gain: 3361 feet
Total Miles Hiked: 555.43
Sometimes you start the day with a plan, and other times you just figure it out as you go along. I left the campsite in the morning, which I think was aptly named, into a meandering tunnel of blooming rhododendrons. Their fuchsia flowers created a vibrant canopy overhead and the fallen petals carpeted the trail in front of me. You can tell this area is massively popular for hikers and backpackers, there were tons of little offshoots leading to single campsites nestled in the bushes. The rhododendron tunnel opened up revealing the landscape, craggy rock formations surrounded by bushes against a backdrop of the green mountains in the distance. The trail was a lot of fun this morning, winding up and around the rocks, with a few little scrambles, and even a narrow cave to pass through.
I crossed into Greyson Highlands State Park, famous for their herds of ponies, for a few miles. I passed one group grazing in a grassy field. Then I ventured into yet another maze of rhododendron scattered around rock formations. After I exited the park, I passed across the valley and up another blooming hill that gave me views of the mountain I had just descended. A lone tree in an expanse of grass and low bushes shaded another herd of ponies from the afternoon sunlight. Soon, I came to a parking area where I found my friends echoing the pony behavior, gathered under the shadow of a trailhead sign.
Talking during lunch at the shelter, everyone seemed noncommittal about where they might be stopping for the day. Fireball seemed excited about the idea of night hiking and tried to rally the group. I was down, and encouraged the group to get on board for the ambitious 25+ miles day. Soon we had a little crew and a plan. Fireball, Hedgehog, Pizza Knees, and I all hiked together, stopping along the way by a waterfall to have dinner while there was still day light. Fireball and Pizza Knees crossed the river on a precarious fallen log, high fived, and each took a Fireball shot (we were all gifted a tiny bottle of this precious cargo, moral support generously shared for the night ahead). Getting ready to pack up and start moving again, Brian and Scooby descended the steps to the waterfall and joined our loose convoy.
When it was too dark to see, we illuminated our headlamps, moving down the trail as one glowing hiker centipede. The full strawberry moon wasn’t over the horizon yet and it was dark as we heard a loud noise of an unknown creature moving through the woods, no doubt startled by our racket. A few minutes later we hear someone yelling and see Mouse running towards us, “I have never been more happy to see anyone in my entire life!” She yelled, panting out of fright. She had her tent set up at one of the sites along the trail, where we were all originally thinking to stop for the day, when she heard some noises in the woods nearby. A big bear was stalking her camp, trying to get her Ursack, and she had just been yelling and trying to scare it off only minutes before we arrived. At first she thought we were going to stop to camp there, but we all convinced her to pack up her tent and come with us to the shelter.
The six of us sat on a large fallen tree as she hastily packed up camp, red lights casting an eerie glow over the scene. But with our group it didn’t feel scary, and everyone was in good spirits. The last of her things were packed, save for her sleeping pad which was still inflated and hauled under her arm for the last few miles of the day. The last stretch to camp dragged on and on, until finally we turned down the blue blaze to the shelter. We arrived as quietly as possible for a crowd of six. We rushed around in the dark to quickly find tent sites and set up camp, disappearing one by one to fall asleep as soon as the chores were finished.
